Leather-cutting tool



A g- 15, 1950 w. KOLODNICKI 2,518,991

LEATHER CUTTING TOOL Filed Oct. 30, 1945 Patented Aug. 15, 1950 "UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE" LEATHER-QU'TTINGTOOL I Walter Kolodnicki, NewLondon, (lo nn. Application October so, 1945, Serial No. 625,486

I 1 This'invention relates to a tool for cutting leather into narrowstrips or lace.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved leather-cuttingtool which may be adjusted to cut different widths of strips from apiece of leather and which may also be adjusted toaccommodate differentthicknesses of leather. A further object of this invention is to providean improved'tool for cutting leather into narrow strips or thongs inwhich the blade is adjustable to cut varying widths of strips and inwhich a gauge block is adjustable to admit leather of varyingthicknesses.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improvedlace-cutting tool for leather which is so construced as to cut a lengthof lace spirally from the center of an odd-shaped piece of leather. 7

Other objects of this invention will appear from" the followingspecification and claim and from the. accompanying drawings illustratingthe invention, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the cutting tool with the partsassembled in operative position;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the cutting tool assembled foroperation;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view with the gauge block partially cutaway and partially disassembled to show the construction;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1 and showingthe knife construction;

Figure 5 is a detail view of the knife blade holder; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary piece of leather showing the manner in which alace is cut spirally from the middle portion thereof.

Referring to the figures, I is the handle and 2 is the body of thecutting tool. The body has 7 a narrow upstanding lug 3 having a slot 4therein.

A gauge block 5 is carried by a threaded screw *5 extending through slot4 and having a knurled thumb-piece I on its end. Rotation of the screw 6while gauge block 5 is held from rotation will cause the gauge block toapproach lug 3 until it abuts said lug, as shown in Figure 1. The slot 4permits the distance between the block 5 and the body 2 to be varied,and tightening of the thumb-piece 1 will hold the gauge block 5 in anyadjusted position relative to the body 2.

The body 2 is provided with a horizontally extending slot 8. Extendingthrough slot '8 is a threaded knife blade holder 9 having a slot I0therein for receiving a knife blade I I. A knurled .nut I2 is providedfor holding the blade II, in-

' 1 Claim. (01. 30-293) serted in slot I0, against the body 2 and thegauge block 5., As can be seen from Figure 4, the blade is inserted inslot [0 so that the knife edge bears against the body 2 and the block 5..The slot 8 permitsthe blade to be adjusted horizontally to vary thedistance between the blade I I and the lug 3. The nut I2 will hold theknife in any adjusted position. The gauge block 5 has its' face scoredto indicate units of distance from the lug 3.

In operation, assuming'the parts are in the position shown in Figure 1,if the notch I3 formed between the gauge block 5 and the body 2 does notconform to the thickness'of the leather to be out, it is necessary tofirst loosen block 5 slightly by turning the screw 6. This will enableblock 5 "to be pushed up or down to provide for notch I3 being of theright size to admit the thickness of the leather. Screw 6 is tightenedin the adjusted position. It is then necessary to adjust the position ofknife blade II so that its distance from the lug 3 conforms with thewidth of the lace or strip it is desired to cut from the piece ofleather. This adjustment is accomplished by loosening the nut I2slightly, moving the holder 9 and blade II to the proper position, andthen tightening the nut I 2.

To cut a strip from the leather piece, it is merely necessary to pushthe forward end of the piece of leather into notch l3 with onev side ofthe piece of leather abutting the lug 3. Then while the cutting tool isheld in one hand, the other hand is used to draw the piece of leatherthrough the cutting tool while maintaining the piece of leather againstthe lug 3. A thong or strip whose width conforms to the distance betweenthe blade II and the lug 3 will thus be formed. The operation will befacilitated if a small cut is first made in the forward end of the pieceof leather so that the forward end of the piece of leather will protrudethrough the cutting tool slightly to facilitate gripping.

The cutting tool is so constructed as to enable a thong to be cut out ofthe center of an oddshaped piece of leather. As seen in Figure 6, aportion I4 about the size of a quarter is first cut out of the center ofthe leather piece. Then a circular cut I5 is started for about an inchand a half and of the desired width to form the beginning of the thong.Then the piece of leather is inserted in notch I3 with the lug 3extending through the opening I4, and the end I5 of the thong fittinginto the space between the lug 3 and the blade I I. To enable placingthe leather in this position, the knife blade II is first loosened androtated or lowered to clear the notch l3, and after the piece of leatheris slipped over the tool, the blade II is returned to its properposition. With the leather in position as indicated above, it is merelynecessary to pull on the end l5 of the thong while holding the tool, andthe blade I I will cut a thong spirally from the piece of leather whilethe leather inflat s. Inns, this u ting imdl p rmits the cuttingofgthpngsglfnom odd pieqespo fleather that are normally discarded asscrap.

While a certain specific embodiment of this invention has been shown, itwill be understood that various modifications may be made with in thespirit of the invention. limitations on the invention are intended otherthan are imposed by the scoperofthe appended claim.

I claim:

A lace cutter, comprising a handle, a fiat body plate secured to oneend-of-ahe handle and extending forwardly or the harrolle-an-d providedwith a slotextending transversely'ofthe handile, the iorward transverseedge oi -the body; plate remote from the handle "beingstraight andparallel to the slot,- an integral lo gi din tension carried by the bodyplate at one forward corner o e s me and avmei erdo tudinal edgearranged at right angles to the fgrward transverse edga'the longitudinalextension h v ng l ngitudinal s e f m d the .iQ, hej10. 'F J-Q n x s ohe as nam sl t be n arr ged ta 'riaht' an les; o t e longi ud n l 9 hslot n t e odynl te. a at recta eu gage block ar nged adiac ntto heorward tran verse ed e d l ngitud a e te ion a d hav ng a stra ght edgeto abut a ai st the inn r ane udinali ed o the ex tension and a str i tgaat .n htangl to the fi st-.n m dstr i ht edg a Parallel to the i rwa dtransverse ed e, .the a e block havin Th retore nov a transverse screwthreaded opening in its straight edge adjacent to the longitudinalextension, an adjusting screw mounted within the transverse screwthreaded opening and extending slidably through the slot in thelongitudinal extension and having a clamping head to engage the outeredge of the extension so that the gage block may be adjustedlongitudinally toward and from the forward transverse edge :ofxthe bodyplate, the. ga e block. being provided upon one side and adjacent to thefor- :ward transverse edge with transversely spaced width measuringgraduations, a pin slidably =mou-n tedwithin the slot of the body plateand arranged atria-ht angles to the longitudinal axis of such slot andscrew threaded at one end, the pin having alongitudinal slot near itsopposite endma longitudinally extending straight knife blade mountedwithin the slot of the pin and extending longitudinally forwardly of thebody plate and over the face of the gage block having the widthm'easuringgraduations, the knife blade contacting the adjacent faces ofthe body plate and gage block andbeing slidabletransversely over thesame; the knife blade being arranged atright angles to the forwardtransverse e g and a nut mounted upon the screw threaded end of the pinanddisp'osed upon-the opposite side of the body plate for clamping theknife blade between one end ofthe slot of the in and the adjacent faceof the body plate. 'WALIER KOLODNICKI.

REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the meet thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,315,128 .Ja cquot Sept; 2, I9192311,92? Luke Dec. '3, 1946

